AFL-CIO: Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Senate Consideration of the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2008
5:05 PM
|
CONTACT: AFL-CIO
Alison Omens (202) 637-5018
|
| |
|
Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on Senate Consideration
of the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (S.2123)
|
| |
|
WASHINGTON, DC - May 12 -This week the Senate is poised to make important progress toward guaranteeing that firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel who risk their lives every day to protect the public have the same right to discuss workplace issues with their employer that other employees have.
Experience shows that public safety is best promoted by effective partnerships between public safety officers and the agencies that employ them. Labor-management cooperation makes fire and police departments more effective by enabling rank-and-file workers to provide input regarding the most efficient methods of providing services. That’s what this legislation would promote.
It is regrettable that members of the Bush cabinet have publicly suggested that collective bargaining would upset our country’s emergency response functions. This claim impugns the integrity of first responders who risked and sacrificed their lives on 9/11 and in the aftermath of Katrina. Every one of the 343 firefighters who perished at Ground Zero was a card-carrying union member.
The bipartisan Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act already passed the House by an overwhelming margin and enjoys significant bipartisan support in the Senate as well. We call on Congress and President Bush to recognize the service and contributions of our nation’s firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel by quickly enacting this bill into law.
###
|
|
Printer Friendly Version
E-Mail This Article
